


Traces of Heaven

by whatsasupernatural



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Serial Killers, Dean is Lucifer's, Everyone Is Gay, Fluff and Smut, Human Castiel, I'm Sorry, John Dies, John Winchester's A+ Parenting, Kidnapped Castiel, Lawyer Sam Winchester, M/M, Maybe - Freeform, Sam is Micheal's vessel, Serial Killer Dean Winchester, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, actual killing of angels, attempted killing of angels, there's probably more - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-03-31 09:58:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13972626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatsasupernatural/pseuds/whatsasupernatural
Summary: Has hasn't killed anyone in too long and Steve from Gas-n-sip looks like the perfect target.Serial killer AU where John dies instead of Mary and the boys have a pretty good life.





	1. Steve from Gas-n-Sip

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, thank you so much for reading my stuff, I always try to put stuff out, but it never get's posted coz I'm not confident in my work. Thank you to @Lucifers-perfect-angel on tumblr for being my beta. You can msg me on tumblr if you want to be a beta I'm currently looking for at least one more. 
> 
> tumblr: @made-frompages-of-ash 
> 
> Dean is Lucifer's vessel and Sam is Micheal's, but when Castiel see's Dean he doesn't even know it's him. there's some torture, but it's mostly skipped past. Dean ran away from home at 19 without a word to his family and they gave up searching for him.

Dean hasn’t killed in a while, too long for his tastes. When he saw the man cleaning the slushy machine during his routine, pre kill, gas station run, he decided he was Dean’s next kill. This was his third gas station, he was running low on everything he needed. He usually keeps at least three rolls of duct tape in his house and one in his car, but either it was all misplaced or he used it all.

Either way he needed some more and this seemed to be the only gas station that had some. One of the other stations had rope and Dean could never pass that up. But what he really needed food. After a kill he always retreated back and stayed inside for a couple of weeks until the police work died down a little bit.

What he was distracted by was the man who stood around 6 feet, he had broad shoulders and a nice build. Dean tended to choose people who had an even match against him. He liked a little fight, and even if the guy was able to fight, it didn’t really matter, Dean had the experience. He also always caught them by surprise, so he had the upper hand.

Dean paid close attention to the man as he took food off the shelves. He seemed awkward, the way he held himself made him look small and he kept was trying to juggle cleaning and a phone call. Nothing seemed to be going for him. Dean took his time observing the guy at one point he spilled the contents of the slushy machine on the ground.

He almost laughed about it but remembered that no one would take kindly to that. Instead he set all of his stuff down and offered to help. Steve very eagerly accepted it and put up the wet floor sign and got the mop bucket. He caught a look at the man’s name tag. Steve was a boring name, but Dean really couldn’t say anything. His name was one step away from being as boring as Steve’s. After helping him clean up the slushy mess, he gathered up his food where he dropped if and brought it up to the counter.

“Thank you so much for shopping at Gas-n-sip, have a super day.” The words sounded forced and like they didn’t quite sit right with him. Dean took his bags from Steve and nodded a thank you at him.

“Have a nice day.” Dean shot back before leaving Steve from Gas-n-sip.

Dean left with several bags on his arms that night, one of which was filled with duct tape. The other twelve or so bags were filled with junk food and a little bit of healthy food. Dean never was much of a healthy food kinda guy, but he knew it was needed sometimes. Even though he was getting older his metabolism was a beast to be reckoned with. That was one of the few things he had to be thankful for. Now though, dean just needed sleep and a lot of it. Tomorrow was going to be a big day.

Castiel liked being Steve, it felt safe. Being ‘Castiel, the traitor’ was the most dangerous thing in the entire world at the moment. Steve was a store clerk, he was nothing special and not on anyone’s radar. Not even dating wise, Steve was a single pringle and now that Cas was human he did long for someone, but he knew he wasn’t the most attractive. Those were just his thoughts anyways, he never thought much of himself these days. Being Steve was nice but it didn’t compare to who he used to be.

His day at the Gas-n-sip had been mostly uneventful. His manager had come in and out a couple times and she was busy with her baby and all. Hell he remembered when he killed one of his brothers in her house just a couple weeks ago protecting her baby. They had been attacked while that baby was sick and Cas almost died while protecting him.

Now Cas was cleaning the slush machine. It wasn’t the first time he cleaned it, but it sure was the first time he’d cleaned it while on the phone. In the middle of cleaning out the machine his phone started vibrating so he paused and picked it up. This better be important. And it ended up being a man that was very important to Cas.

“Cas?” Sam sounded worried “I heard about the angel killings in your area please tell me you’re okay.” He nodded before realizing Sam couldn’t see him.

“I took care of it. I am okay.” Cas could hear Sam huff on the other end of the line.

“I worry about you Cas, if one angel was able to find you others will be able to as well. I’ve already lost my brother I can’t lose you too. Can I at least come visit you, please I haven’t see you in so long. Cas I-“ Cas cut him off, he knew if Sam kept talking he’d go on for hours on end.

“Yes you can come. Please do not worry too much about me it is bad for your health to worry.” Castiel knew Sam worried to much about everything, Mostly he worried about his brother, but Sam knew that Dean was a lost cause, he left went he was about 19.

When John died it hurt everyone in the family, but Sam knew it hurt Dean the most, and Sam only blamed himself for his brothers leaving. He would talk about how he should have told his mom about how bad Dean had gotten. Sam went through a lot in his life, but Castiel only got acquainted with Sam later on in life.

He had been working a demon case, well less demon and more tracking Lucifer, but a trail of demons was all he needed to get to him. Along the way Cas learned about Sam, Lucifer’s true vessel. At first he was going to kill him, but he grew to like Sam. The boy was beautiful, he could admit that, and Sam was trying his hardest to be the good guy. Cas knew this, but protecting Sam was ultimately what made him fall from grace.

None of the angels could bare to face Castiel the warrior of God, instead they told whispers of him. Most were to make him laughing stock, but all of the smart angels feared him. It was commonly know that when Cas fell, he went from being a brother, to murdering his family. Angels feared him, demons feared him, every single thing in the whole of this universe feared him, except for the archangels, Sam, and his store manager.

Cas was stolen from his thoughts when Sam started yelling his name through the phone. This made him jump and he spilled all of the slushy on the ground.

“Oh uh, Sam I’m- I- I need to go.” He hung up the phone and heard a voice behind him.

“Mind if I help you with that?” Cas turned around to face the guy who offered his help. “Uh Steve.” Cas nodded almost immediately, who was he to turn down any help offered to him. He could also see that this man was probably the most attractive person he’d ever met, Cas was almost mesmerized by him, but he didn’t have time to look at the pretty man in front of him, so he turned and grabbed the wet floor sign. 

Castiel was lucky that no one else was there to see him spill slushy all over himself. His pants were all wet, and oh god this incredibly beautiful man was watching him scurrying around with his now wet pants which were growing stickier every passing moment and focus Castiel. He shook his head, fuck never mind.

After cleaning the spill the guy went over and grabbed his stuff from wherever he left it and went to check out. Cas went over to help him check out.

“Thanks for helping me clean.” The guy just shrugged a little.

“Ah what was I supposed to let a cutie like you clean the whole thing on your own. Besides getting to see you with wet pants has made my day.” Cas blushed and struggled for a bit to come up with a response. Luckily, this guy was done and Cas could close after he was gone.

“Thank you so much for shopping at Gas-n-sip, have a super day.” The words sounded forced and like they didn’t quite sit right with him. Cas mentally stabbed himself in the face at the tone. The guy nodded a good bye, no indication of noticing the weird tone.

“Have a nice day.” He shot back before leaving Cas in the Gas-n-sip alone.

Castiel was working a full week at Gas-n-sip. He really needed the money if he was going to move into the cheap studio apartment he found earlier that year. For the next couple of nights though, he was closing and closing scared him. Most of his anxieties were about if he didn’t close up right, what if I forget to turn off the hotdog machine thingy, I could burn down the whole store. Or what if I count the register wrong? That could throw the register off for a whole week. Cas came up with a lot of what if situations in his free time.

Some of his worries were about the place he was and the people that surrounded. He knows this isn’t the safest part of town, and now more that even he’s vulnerable to the evils of other humans, but he wasn’t too afraid about it. Some nights he’d sleep on the streets and he’d be perfectly fine. The homeless community accepted him with as open arms as a homeless community can.

Most nights though he just slept in the storage closet at work. His manager asked him about the sleeping bag he kept in there and he was quick to come up with a lie. It was easy to convince her, Cas really did stay up late to do inventory at the store and his manager wasn’t going to tell him not to do his job. Tonight he was going to sleep here, but tomorrow he’d have to go and clean his pants and he’d probably be too tired to walk all the way back to his work.

Cas went to bed that night thinking about his tomorrow and all it entailed. Cas still wasn’t used to sleeping. Or anything that came with being human. He cursed his past actions for his current state. But tonight, he was too tired to think about his past.

Dean woke up with a start and looked at the clock.

“Fuck.” It was 11:56 he was late to his preparations. He’d have to work faster than he like to, but he could live with it. He’s done more in less time. He always did have this voice in the back of his head making up what ifs. Dean dismisses them now though because they don’t ally anymore.  
When he first started killing he was always on the run, living hotel room to hotel room with his brother always asking why he never stayed in place for too long. Dean would always say the same excuse to the point that it became ingrained in him.

“I wasn’t a fan of the scenery.” he’d say and Sam would huff, grumbling about how Dean needed to get a job that pays or about how he needed to settle down into a place. Dean never saw his brother anymore. Between moving around a lot and being a serial killer, Dean doubted Sam really wanted to see him anymore.

But now Dean has settled down into a base. He found it while driving around, it looked like a weird abandoned building, but it looked sturdy and like a good enough place to hide out for the night. It was a bitch to get into though, he was an expert lock pick and he still couldn’t break into it. He almost gave up on the building all together, but he decided to do a walk around for any other doors. 

He eventually found one. It was so well hidden that he thought it was a chimney at first, but the more he thought about the fact that the building wasn’t accessible the more he looked for secret accesses. The ‘chimney stood about two feet away from the building and went straight into the ground, that was enough to convince him that something was off with the structure. Once he got inside the building he didn’t even know where he was.

It took him about twenty minutes to navigate the halls of what he called the Bunker. It looked like an underground military like base. The walls were tile and the floor was straight concrete, nothing about it felt comforting, but dean went on ahead navigating the confusing hall way system.

Eventually he stumbled out into the main rooms. The first was the room he now called the War room. It had one of those light up tables with a map of the world on it and the things on it that you see in old war movies when they’re planning their course of action. It also held a staircase up to the main door. Dean hadn’t expected to be about a story underground, but he was. Next to the stairs was a small table with a game of chess set up, it was halfway played. The coffee next to it was also half drunken. Looks like whoever used to be down here had to get out in a hurry.

The idea was unsettling, someone was able to get into this place and they were enough of a threat that everyone just had to get out. That was what Dean thought anyways, but everything in the place was absolutely ancient, it all looked like it came from the dark ages of computers.

The next rook looked a lot more pleasant, it was just a library. Dean however wasn’t too big a fan of reading, so it was next to useless to him. He skimmed over a couple book names and stopped dean in his tracks. All of these books looked like that they came out of horror movies or came from cults. Everything was about werewolves and demons and creatures he hadn’t even heard of. Sitting on the table in the main room was a couple books about angels and a map of what he assumed was the bunker.

Maybe he thought the person that drove them from this place wasn’t even a person at all. But that seemed too ridiculous for Dean so he pushed away the thought and looked for the lights with his flashlight. He flipped the switch, but nothing happened. That’s fucked. He grabbed the map of the bunker and followed it to the electrical room. He didn’t even know why he thought the lights would work, no one’s been there since the 80’s at least, but fuck it, it was worth the try.

When the lights flickered on he actually jumped, that wasn’t supposed to work. This place had a big creepy vibe to it and Dean was really considering not staying, but he was exhausted. Later on he found out that not only did the lights still work, but the water did too and it was clean filtered water. The thing on the map that caught his eye was a room on it that was called the Dungeon, now that was something he could work with.

Dean spent the next couple days exploring the rooms, taking inventory, and trying to find his way around the bunker. There was a lot of old weapons and some cool looking swords in this place. When he found the dungeon he was a lot more unsettled about it than he was excited to work with it. A huge pentagram was painted on the ground and a single chair sat in the middle.

The garage was Dean’s favorite place to hang out, when he found out there was a garage he put his baby in it and immediately gave it a nice wash. Baby was the only thing besides the cloths on his back and his phone that he owned. Technically, the car belonged to his dad, but he left it to Dean in his will and when he died the car was his.

Dean thinks about his dad a lot. When Sam was six months old John was killed in cold blood. It hit his mom, Mary, who took it the hardest. She really wasn’t the same after John’s death, but she tried for her boys to keep it together. They never did catch who killed their dad. Dean took it very hard, but no one in the family could really tell. Sometimes they would catch glimpses of it, but mostly Dean stayed very well cover in his safety blanket of fake happy. It was a big surprise when he ran away, or more of drive away, at the age of 19 in the 67 Chevy impala.

Now the car mostly sat in the bunker garage, it doesn’t get much use except for the occasional gas station run and of course whenever Dean went out to grab a fresh kill. When he found the garage bunker he was surprised to see all the cars and bikes in it. The bunker had no one in it, not even dead bodies, but all of the cars and bikes are still here. He added it to the creepy list and moved on.

His car in the middle of the room. It gleamed under the lights. Whenever Dean was too stressed or thinking too much he’d run out and wash his car. The act soothed his mind, it was something he used to do with dad since before he could remember. This car held a lot of memories in it. He’s had it for a lot of years now and every day he spent in it is cataloged somewhere in his mind.

But today Dean didn’t have time for any of this, he had to get ready for the big night. Steve was meant to be his house guest after all, and Dean liked to make an impression. First was the matters of the dungeon, he had to cover the floor in painters plastic so blood didn’t stain the floor. All of his kills probably thought he was satanic dick bag or something along those lines.

When dean first found the collection of knives in the bunker he was super excited to try the all out, but he found one knife, well more like a blade really, that wasn’t with the others. He found it on the bed he now called his. That was also added to his creepy list, random knives on beds. He really enjoyed the way it looked and how it was weighted. It’s about 22’ and has three sides that come to a nice point and no matter how many times he drops it or uses it, it never seems to dull.

He had to make quick work of his knife cleaning session, but everything was mostly clean already so he didn’t have too much of a hard time. As he worked he thought about how he was going to get the guy alone. Usually he takes a Jeffrey Dahmer kind of approach and he flirts his way into a one night stand, but this guy was too good for that.

No he’d have to invite him out for drinks and work him over for a bit, maybe he’d leave before Steve did, but when Steve went to leave he’d take him. Dean had a lot of ideas playing out in his head. He almost ran out of time while thinking about how this was going to go down. Thankfully he didn’t and he checked the time, noticed he was almost late and got dressed for the night. Steve was going to be fun.

The next day Cas was running late to work, that was weird because he slept there, but he had to run out and wash his now sticky pants. The laundromat was about a mile out from his work which to Cas really wasn’t that bad of a walk but now he tried easily and he couldn’t just fly there.

He really missed flying, it was fast and he could always get people out of harms way if he needed to, but now he was stuck just fighting and hoping that his companions are doing okay. He missed being part of the cool angel club, no sleeping, no food, he didn’t need shelter because he was always going. Now though, Cas had to slow down and do all the things he didn’t need to do before. He was mostly bothered by having to pee. The thing he appreciated most though was dreaming.

When he slept he dreamed about his memories of heaven. Sometimes he’d dream of good things, learning to fly, wing grooming, stuff like that, but other times he’d dream of the fighting a wars he was a part of. He would dream about Gabriel leaving or the angels calling him a traitor. Castiel missed all of the good times in heaven, sometimes he wished that he didn’t fall for humanity.

In heaven it was common for angels to look down of humans, they were seen as lesser beings, impure and corrupt. Originally Castiel agreed with the others, humans were just savages to him. Why would his father create a species that only destroys everything around it? But over time Cas observed the humans and he saw that humans had a lot more to them then flaws and savagery, and even started to appreciate them. He went to earth to seek a vessel. On his way down he heard a meek pleading voice of prayer.

Please God, my name is Jimmy Novak, and I am devout only to you. Please, I ask of you now because I am going through a rough patch. Castiel followed the prayer. I ask for you to please send an angel to watch over my girls as we go through this, I do not want them to end up hating me for what is about to happen to them. James Novak, the god fearing accountant attracted Castiel. 

Usually he was opposed to taking a vessel as the last time that he did he had to kill a nephilim child, that turned out not to be a nephilim, and the experience of taking a vessel and using it hurt a human was something Castiel never wanted to do again, but he was sure that he could help this man.

Over time Cas was able to deliver his message to the man and he agreed to be his vessel. He was very wrong about being able to help the small family though. After taking his vessel Amelia Novak had kicked him out of the house for having delusions of voices and biblical beings coming to him. Even when he stuck his arm into a boiling pot of water to try to convince her she only saw him as a danger to their daughter and sent him away.

Afterwards Castiel underwent several trials. The Novak was scattered into the wind and broken. Jimmy himself was dead as a vessel can only go under so much damage before the original host is killed, and humans are some of the most fragile creatures. Amelia was killed by a grigori angel and Claire was all grown up and living with Sheriff Jody Mills and a little family of wayward girls. Cas really wanted to help her, but she was too stubborn and broken to accept it.

Now though, Cas has lost most of his grace, he was mostly human, and he figured he might as well live like one. He got a job at a local gas station called the Gas-n-sip. Up until now it had been uneventful, well besides killing the rit zien a couple weeks ago, but that was something from his old life. The guy that helped him clean up his slushy mess walked back into the station.

“Ah I see your pants are clean today. A shame I liked seeing you all dirty.” His voice was gruff and heavy but smooth. Cas blinked in surprise.

“I-I-I-uh Hello?” Way to make a fool of yourself Castiel, get it together he’s just another human. 

But he couldn’t help it, his mind was going in a million different directions and it went even fast as the guy reached over his chest to the cup of pens on the counter behind him.

“Text me what time you get off, let’s go get a couple drinks my treat.” Cas cleared his throat and nodded.

“Y-yeah I’d like that.” Oh god what is this feeling, what am I feeling? He thought he was sick, but he knew that humans don’t just instantly get sick for no reason. The guy took his hand and wrote his number and name of it. He looked down at the writing

Dean W.

“See you later.” Dean left with a wink and a little wave.

Dean thought that his little flirt session with Steve went well enough. The guy seemed pretty flustered and Dean could work with flustered. He was starting up his car when he got the text.

Hey it’s Steve, I’m off at 8 meet me at Crossroads Bar around 8:30?

That would do it. When Dean got back to the bunker, he set on to the task of making sure everything was perfect and in working order. 8:30 was about three hours away that gave him time to wash his car for what felt about the 200th time that week. Washing baby was always something he liked to do before a kill, it calmed his nerves and got him focused for what he was about to do. It was a mind numbingly easy task now that he’s done it for so long. 

He used the hose a filled a bucket with soap and water. His car was already clean, but he just liked doing the whole process, it was calming and it let him think through where he was now and what he’s been through. He thinks about Sam mostly. He loved his brother, missed him even, but he knew that Sam’s life was a good one. He went off to college, went to law school. Dean liked to check up on Sam in his free time. 

Sam was happy, he had a girlfriend, but Dean never checked up on him anymore. He was just too far away, and Dean was just way too busy. As he washed his car he thought about how much he wanted to know Sam again. No he had to focus today, today he needed to think about Steve. Steve was pretty? Or at least Dean thought so, it almost made him feel bad about killing him later today.

Something Dean found at the bunker that proved to be incredibly helpful was a huge supply of syringes, when he read some of the note that went with them he had to put another thing on his weird list, dead man’s blood and vampires, These people really were crazy. But he found that Anectine worked well enough to knock them out. It was a hard to get drug, but he had a couple sources that he could get it from.

He loaded up a couple vials and three needles before he headed out to the bar. It was a nice enough place, cute even by his standards. No one looked like they were ready to kill him, which was a plus. Dean checked the time on his phone 8:25, a little extra time, early wasn’t quite his style, but this guy was worth it. He waited about an hour before paying for his drinks and heading out. 

Maybe he’s still at work. It was a reach but maybe he was. Dean never had someone flake on him before, that was a surprise to him. He drove off with his music turned down, maybe he was still at work, Dean didn’t want to scare the guy. Sure his car was loud, but he could just park a bit aways, out of the line of sight. 

The gas station lights were still on, but no cars were outside. Maybe the guy walks Dean didn’t know. The timing was almost perfect, Dean was parked out on the side for about 10 minutes when the lights of the Gas-n-sip when out and Steve came around the corner on foot. Dean counted his blessings that this guy was going to be an easy pick up. And he was, Dean was able to sneak up on him pretty easy and before the guy could turn around he was already down. 

Cas knew he was late, but he had to make sure everything was perfect. Curse his new found human anxieties. When he finally made sure everything was in working order he gathered what he needed for the night and went on his way. He was barely out the door when he felt something poke his neck, when he went to turn around his limbs felt like they were made of sand and his vision went black. 

When he woke up the room was mostly dark except for a small sliver of light that was between the two doors, or he hoped they were doors. He tried to move but his head hurt and his limbs were stiff, no not just stiff but tied to a chair. Nothing good seemed to be coming his way. 

“I hate being human.” Cas said the words out loud before he could stop himself and a figure’s shadow crossed the only source of light for where ever he was.

“You’re awake.”


	2. Angelcakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been struggling to get this chapter done, but it's done!  
> Thank you again to my betas y'all are amazing.  
> If you wanna be a beta I'm still looking for a few (1-2) more. DM me on tumblr @Made-frompages-of-ash

Sam knew something was wrong when Cas didn’t call him back. He tried to call him but every time he did it went to voicemail. Sam tried several times, over and over again almost racking up a solid ten times before he went to track his friends' phone. He couldn’t get an exact location, all he could get was about a 20 mile radius in Lawrence, Kansas. He was all the way in California, but he way damned if he wasn’t going to get to wherever Cas was.

He didn’t trust other angels, he didn’t trust anyone really, but he knew one person, or thing really, that he could trust to get him there. _No that’s absolutely insane._ He tidied his papers on his desk and checked online for flights.

Sam didn’t really need to worry about money, his job as a lawyer was treating him very well. He had money, a nice apartment, and a Dog named Bones, as far as he was concerned he was living a pretty good life. It didn’t matter who he was to the whole angel demon war, he was doing what he liked to do. Cas had warded him from angels and almost anything else in the book.

He could easily catch a flight straight to where he needed to be. The flight wouldn’t be anything big, but it would be fast and Cas would just have to ride it out for a couple more hours. Sam mutter a small prayer to him in attempts to give him any sort of communication. It wasn’t going to work, he knew Cas’s grace was too low to hear prayers.

Sam remembered what it was like before he met Castiel. It was only a few years ago, but it felt like a lifetime ago. It was nice before. Not knowing what out there. Monsters, demons, angels. Most of them were bad, angels would kill almost anyone to get what they wanted, demons, well demons were demons, and everything else was just as bad.

He never did become a hunter, he needed his work to get by, being a practicing lawyer wasn’t a full time job though. His firm gave him cases, he got to choose what he wanted to do and he’d do them. He treated himself well and whenever he was feeling overworked he was able to take a break.

He almost started hunting when his girlfriend, Jess, died. That’s how Cas had found him. He was working on angel killings and Sam was working with a defendant who was charged with the string of kills. Jess was killed by an angel before Cas could stop him. Sam was lucky to get out of there alive. When he came to, he was looking at the beautiful face of Castiel.

Sam was more worried now about what was happening to Cas. Had angels gotten to him? He didn’t want to think about the specifics yet so he went and packed a duffel bag. Cas had to be safe, Sam didn’t know if he could make it out there without Cas. Anything could happen if he was gone, and now that they knew each other Sam had been dependent on him.

When Cas turned human Cas felt that he wasn’t useful. Sam offered to let him stay with him, but Cas felt that it was too dangerous. He wasn’t warded from angels and even if he was, his warding wouldn’t be as strong. An angel is an angel after all and angels could see other angels wings. Sam wouldn’t be safe with him around.

Insted Cas moved out to Kansas and Sam would check in on him over the phone. He liked listening to Cas talk. He always was a soldier so he’d give out his life like it was a full report. Usually phone calls would last about two hours. An hour and a half of Cas talking and half an hour for Sam’s life. Give or take a couple of minutes for each person.

Cas was always ready to answer the phone. He always liked to know that Sam was safe. Sam knew that because Cas always told him that, like a broken record. So when Cas didn’t answer the first time Sam got very worried. _Maybe He’s asleep._ But Sam knew that was unlikely, Cas didn’t like sleep much and even so it was only about 7pm there. He called and called and called, it wasn’t enough. Cas didn’t pick up and eventually Sam knew that it was bad. Someone or something had gotten to him.

The little puddle jumper he was going to fly in would be leaving in about an hour. That was just enough time for him to finish packing and eat a quick dinner. Sam wasn’t too hungry though, he’d probably skip it and head straight to his flight. He was the only passenger, that he knew of, on the plain and it had a scheduled time to leave, but they should be good to leave when he got there.

His flight only took him about 3 hours and when he touched down he thanked the pilot and went on his way. He rented a car and started driving. He figured it would take about an hour to find out where exactly Cas was, but mostly he was going to look in the center of the cell spot. He figured that the center was the best place to look considering that the circle was a perfect 20 miles.

The place Sam found was not inviting. A bunker, mostly underground, was right smack dab in the middle of the reception circle. Big and scary, the doors were all locked, but he was able to pick the front door pretty well. It didn’t take long before it opened and when it did he really didn’t like what he saw

“You’re awake?” Cas knew that voice, it was the voice he was supposed to hear, but not here, this was the wrong place to hear that voice. He tried to move, but his legs and arms were tied, on top of that his head was pounding and his vision was blurry. The door creaked open as Dean pushed it open. “You left me sitting at the bar for an hour.”Dean? Light flooded the room and Castiel groaned and closed his eyes. When he opened them again he was able to at least see the room he was in without being dizzy.

The walls were plain brick, except for the one he was facing, it looked like the back of bookshelves, and the two panels in the middle seemed to be doors. There was a big devil’s trap painted on the floor. Did Dean think he was a demon? Castiel knew this place, he knew the walls looked like the ones in the room that that he left his angel blade.

The looked the walls from the Men of Letters bunker, but there was no way that’s where they were. That place was abandoned, and other humans wouldn’t be able to access the place, even him at full power it was very hard to get inside. If this was the bunker, whoever this guy was, he would have to be pretty powerful. Dean snapped in front of his face.

“Hey Angelcakes.” He snapped “Ground control to Major Tom” His tone was mocking, but Castiel never really got mocking and sarcasm. Sam was trying to help him with sarcasm, but Cas was a slow learner and English phrases and tone changed so often that he usually avoided the ‘slang’ of any language, but mostly he disliked how quickly the English language changes. _Maybe he did know I was an angel. Why did this man not like angels?_ Cas snapped back into focus.

“Welcome back.” He was eye level with Dean, their faces very close so all he could see was Dean’s eyes. Before he could respond he felt the tip of a blade poke into just below his chin. He felt the blade hum and sing with grace. His remaining grace reached out for it, and he could feel his grace working double duty to replenish itself. Now Cas was more aware of what exactly was about to stab him. An angel blade, the one he hadn’t seen in a long time.

 _I left that in the bunker._ He hadn’t seen his blade since he killed that angel. “Wow, you sure are spacey for someone who’s got a knife to his throat.” he pushed it up a little bit and Cas could feel his grace sting and burn like hot ashes. He was used to this happening, when he first joined Sam in his fight to end the apocalypse angels would do anything to get a hit on him.

When he first got into town, he’d kept his blade close. It was always on his person, but after he killed yet another one of his brothers, he decided to give it up. Angel blade’s were dangerous and never used for good anymore. Cas wasn’t new to killing his siblings, there was a whole trail of brother and sisters thanks to him, but that had all been for Sam. Every action he’s taken since he met the younger brother had been for him and that’s how he got past what he’d done.

“Dean.” That’s all he could say. This guy had gotten him to trust him with just a glance, and Cas had never trusted since his fall. Dean smirked and relieved the pressure of the knife from Cas’s chin. He stepped back and twirled the blade in his hands. “Where did you get that?” Cas wasn’t looking at the guy in front of him, he was more interested in the thing he was holding. Castiel the great warrior’s angel blade was being used against him. The idea stung Cas more than the cut on the blade itself.

Dean watched him carefully, the way Steve was staring at his blade, well if Dean didn’t know any better he’d say the guy was talking to it. He almost failed to notice the he was asked a question, almost being the key word. Dean didn’t really feel like answering though, this guy was going to be dead soon, why would he have to answer to a dead man?

“Last time someone looked at me like that,” he laughed a little, “I got laid.” Part of him started to recount that night, but he pushed the thought away. Steve looked up from his blade and into Dean’s eyes. He wasn’t quite angry, but more of defiant. He stopped twirling the blade in his hands and flipped it so the handle was facing the tied up man. Dean looked down it like he was taking aim with a gun. Hell maybe he’d throw it right into his chest.

“An angel blade.” Dean looked up from his sights and dropped his arm back to his side. “Forged in heaven and made for Angels to fight by the side of the Archangels.” _This guy isn’t serious._ Dean raised his eyebrows, but Steve kept going. “I wielded that blade against my own brothers, I killed my own kind with it.” In a fast movement Dean was straddling Steve and had the angel blade against the shorter man’s neck.

From a distance it almost looked pornographic. Dean wasn’t complaining, this guy was cute and honestly he’d probably be down for a little fun. But, he knew that there was no way it was going to end up there. Steve had a look in his eyes that was far beyond Dean’s comprehension, but boy was it cute. _No I gotta focus here._

“Alright, I don’t know who you are, but if you don’t stop saying stupid stories, I’ll gank you right here, right now and I know you don’t want that.” Steve stiffened and sat up trying to keep the blade from cutting him. “Now I’m going to ask the questions and you’re going to answer, and if I hear one more stupid thing come from your mouth I’ll start carving up some Steve.” Steve nodded fear in his eyes. Dean backed off and went behind Steve to the table. He opened up his computer and started sound recording.

He had a system he always followed. A little personal journal of everyone’s lives. He had a set of questions he always asked but sometimes he’d stray a little. This guy was interesting enough that Dean would probably just keep asking questions if he wasn’t careful. He started the way he always did.

“The date is January 5th, time is currently 14:32” Dean ruffled Steve’s hair a little before continuing. “What’s your name, first and last please.” Steve tried to shake Dean’s hand off, but to no avail. His hair would be doomed to be more messed up.

“My name is Castiel,” he pause in thought “Novak.” Dean pulled his hair so Steve, now Castiel, was forced to look at the ceiling. Dean leaned over so he could look him in the eyes.

“What’d I say about lying.” Cas tried to shake his head, but Dean’s grip was too tight. He was scared, something Steve hadn’t really shown until now. Dean was surprised, but that was all he was really looking for. He liked watching the fear before they were killed. Some might say he got off on it. Dean was happy though, this guy’s fear was all he really wanted from him.

“My name is Castiel Novak, please I’m not lying.” He looking pleadingly, and Dean dropped his grip on Castiel’s hair. _So what exactly are you hiding with the name Steve._ He shook off the question and stored it for later, for now he’d stick to his usual questions. All of the question were followed by a pause, as if Cas was choosing his words carefully.

“Where are you from.” Cas had to think about that question extra hard. Where would he say he’s from? Heaven wasn’t an acceptable answer for this guy and any answer could be followed by a number of question he couldn’t answer. He settled with an answer that really wasn’t one.

“I’m from all over. I’ve moved around for as long as I could remember.” Dean wasted no time in diving into the answer with more. _Was your dad in the military, was the just an answer that seemed safe to say, was anything about this guy true?_ He didn’t stop and Cas had no idea what he was thinking. He looked at the man he had tied up.

“Castiel?” Cas was stiff and covered in small cuts most of them shallow but some of them were pretty deep. “Why did you go by Steve, what in your past are you running away from.” Cas knew that no matter how he phrased this, Dean wouldn’t believe him. He hung his head and mumbled his response. Dean didn’t even hear the first word. “Speak up angelcakes, I didn’t quite catch that.” Dean got down to his level and pushed Cas’s chin up with his pointer finger.

“I’m running away from my family who are trying to destroy the things my father created.” This wasn’t enough information for Dean. _That could mean anything._ He raised his eyebrows in a way that meant ‘go on’. “I’ve killed so many brothers and sisters, I am unwelcome in heaven.” He was back to talking about heaven and angels. Dean started to get pissed off with this guy.

“Listen, I’m not going to give you another chance. Tell me why you ran, if you talk about being an angel one more time I’ll start taking off parts” But Cas knew what he had to do, he’d been pushing his grace and putting all of his energy into trying to store up enough of it. He looked at his captor and flashed his eyes. They lit up blue with grace and Dean stumbled backwards.

“I am an angel, Dean.” Dean couldn't think straight, he had an actual angel tied up in his creepy bunker dungeon. _God I’m so going to hell_. “I’m only telling you the truth.” Dean reached for the angel blade, but when he went for it, it wasn’t in his belt loop. He looked around he found that it had fallen out and skittered off out of reach.

He scrambled for it, grabbing it in his hands and held it shakily in front of him. He hadn’t felt scared in a long time. Not since his dad died. When John died, he was too scared to even leave his room. The guys that killed him were still out there and Dean didn’t want to come across them.

He spent his days after that trying to get over, or at least trying to run away from his feelings. After he ran he slowly became the person he was afraid of. He killed his fear and he wasted the guys that killed his dad. But that feeling is something he lived for, so he kept going.

Now he was scared, there was an actual angel of God sitting in the chair right in front of him and he was scared. All he could think about was him in the past. The past, the one thing he was running away from finally caught up with him. His dad, his mom and the way he shut her out, and his younger brother Sammy.

Sam, he hadn’t thought about Sam in too long. It had been years since he went out and saw him. Last he checked Sam was a lawyer or going to law school Dean didn’t really know the difference, but that didn’t stop him from caring a whole lot for his brother. He was always confiding in him and Sammy always kept his secrets for him. He looked at Castiel and spoke up.

“You could literally kill me right now couldn’t you?” He was almost too afraid to look at him. There was no forgiveness for what he’s done in the past, he knew that. He knew that an actual angel wouldn’t even try to forgive him, but as he looked at the one in front of him he didn’t see anger. Cas sat there his eyes back to their usual color.

Dean dropped the angel blade, but he didn’t care all that much. He just sat there and looked at Cas and fought back any emotion he could. Castiel didn’t try to answer just yet. He just watched Dean sit there on the ground in front of him and all Cas could manage to do was watch him. Eventually though, he answered.

“I am mostly human now.” he sighed “I really couldn’t kill you in this position anyways.” he shifted around, but Dean’s attention was drawn from a crash coming from somewhere in the bunker. He turned to Cas and pulled himself together.

“Not a word.” Dean got up and left the dungeon leaving Cas with the angel blade. Another noise came from outside the dungeon and Dean pulled a gun from his back pocket that Cas didn’t know he had this whole time. He stalked off gun first. Cas was sat alone with no way of getting out of this mess.

The place Sam found was not inviting. A bunker, mostly underground, was right smack dab in the middle of the reception circle. Big and scary, the doors were all locked, but he was able to pick the front door pretty well. It didn’t take long before it opened and when it did he really didn’t like what he saw.

It looked like a straight up war bunker. The table under the granted stairs he was standing on was straight from a world war two movie. Slowly and quietly he descended the stairs, if Cas was here whoever had him and to be dangerous. He didn’t want to take his chances. 

The room he first entered into was dark, no lights were on, but in the next room all of the lights were on. He was able to see around him quit well, and thankfully he could. The walls were lined with old machines and the floor had at least one half eaten pizza box on the floor. It was the only room he could see that was messy.

The next room over was a library, it was clean, but it was somewhere Sam really didn’t have time to look at, but as he walked by the shelves something caught his eye. It was a sword rack, on top of one of the shelves. Both rings held swords and as he reached for it he got distracted by the books on the shelves.

His hand went too far and before he could stop it, both swords fell off the rack and fell onto the hard concrete ground. A loud crash came from them and Sam jumped about half of his height. _Shit_. He gathered himself and took off towards the hallway closest to him.

Cas’s ‘God juice’ as Sam called it, was too low to regenerate. He knew that as he looked at his blade sitting across the room from him. He tried as hard as he could to push his grace as far as he could, to get his blade back, but it didn’t move.

Cas just wanted to be back to his old self. For a while he liked being human, hell he even enjoyed it, but now, more than ever, he wanted to be back to his old self. Being a care free angel that didn’t meddle in the affairs of humans, a warrior for his father that killed demons and waged war against evil. Always following the orders of Michael and God like a good soldier.

Cas never liked being told what to do, but he did as he was told anyways. It gave him something to do and Heaven really wasn’t all that fun loving and with Gabriel gone everyone was on high alert. After he left Heaven never was the same, and Angel rarely left. Cas always wanted to roam the world and meet humans.

Mostly though, he missed having grace, workable grace. His grace was like every other angels, it should regenerate, but with how low it is his grace can’t regenerate itself. He can will it to regenerate, but that takes all of his energy, usually he can only do it in times of need and outside of that trying to force regeneration would make him pass out.

Cas was so lost in thought he didn’t see or hear the other man walk past his door. He didn’t even see him come back and enter. The other guy was already grabbing the angel blade on the ground when Cas came back to the real world. When he looked up he saw a very familiar face.

“Sam?” Sam ran over to cut Cas free. “How did you find me?” Cas rubbed his wrists as Sam cut his feet free. _How did he get in here?_ Cas had a menagerie of questions. No of which were going to be answered any time soon. Sam handed him his blade and pulled another one out of his belt loop.

He felt his limbs screaming at him as he stood, his body was exhausted and in a lot of pain. Cas couldn’t tell if it was just from being sat there for as long as he was, or if it was from whatever Dean had injected him with. He figured it was a combination of both. All the cuts on his body definitely didn’t help, but he got up and tried to worry about what was currently happening.

“I’ll tell you on the way out, right now though we gotta get you out of here.” Cas could do that. They headed out and turned the opposite way that they came. He didn’t ask questions, he just ran. Sam was leading him though the maze of hallways trying to avoid Dean. “I got into town and Called you, but you didn’t answer. No text or anything so I tracked your phone.”

They came to the war room entrance and Sam stopped him and looked around the open area. In one fluid motion he grabbed his friend and they started to run across the war room to the staircase against the wall. A bullet hit the wall, Sam luckily was able to duck and avoid it. He turned, ready to throw his knife, but stopped. He was staring at the man who kidnapped Cas and Cas looked between the two.

Dean stalked the hallways and listened for any more noises. Whoever was here was in a rat maze. Dean could find his way around pretty easily, but the person he was now hunting was trapped. He heard footsteps coming from the war room, but when he went and checked it was empty.  Maybe he was going crazy, but as he turned around to go back he saw both of them.

A very tall guy, maybe around 6’4”,long hair, stood with Cas. He held a knife. It looked familiar, almost like one he used to know a long time ago, but that wasn’t what was important now. The guy had his angel. Castiel follow close behind him and Dean wasn’t going to let them get out of here. He took aim and fired off a shot. The lucky son of a bitch was able to duck and avoid it. He turned and aimed, ready to throw his knife, but stopped and lowered his aim.

Sam knew who the guy standing in front of him. He wasn’t all that tall, buff, looked somewhat like his dad. Sam couldn’t move, every fiber in his body was frozen when he saw the man. He hadn’t seen his brother since he ran away about 20 years ago. He watched his brother carefully and he juggled his thoughts.

Of all the people who could have taken his friend it had to be his brother. He thought about Cas and how he was the reason they had met up and he thought about how his brother was the reason for everything happening at this moment. If Dean hadn’t run off, if Cas hadn’t come to save him. Sam didn’t want to think about where they’d all be now. But right now Dean was in front of him and Cas was beside him.

“Dean?” Sam lowered his arm and let go of Cas. The shorter man stopped and lowered his gun looking at the one who’d broken into his home. Dean dropped his gun in surprise and started walking towards them.

“Sammy?” Cas looked between the two trying to figure out how his friend knew Dean. _They were so different in personality, there was no way they were friends. Maybe they dated or used to work together._ But Cas eventually put it together.

“Dean Winchester?” He was quiet, but both could hear him. “The brother of the righteous man, vessel of the fallen angel, Dean Winchester.”  Cas took in the sight of the man before him. Know what he did now, looking at Dean, he saw something else in him. Cas looked back at Sam.

He didn’t want to look back at the man, he was scared of him. He had faced Michael and had glimpsed Lucifer, but this man was able to end the entire world. Lucifer couldn’t do anything without a vessel, but here he was, and Castiel was facing him right now.

Sam looked at Cas for any clarity on the situation, but Cas wasn’t going to give him any. He was too afraid. This man fell to the path of darkness and followed in the footsteps of Lucifer. The trail of bodies in his wake was much smaller than that of his older brother’s, but still it was higher than most.

Sam pushed Castiel behind him in the attempt to get to his brother, but Cas held onto him. He wasn’t stupid, He knew that Dean was obviously dangerous considering the position they were in, but Sam didn’t care, his brother was right in front of him.

“Dean.” That’s all he could say, nothing else could come out of his mouth. “Dean.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not quite 5,000, but it's close. again thank you so much for reading and thank you for everything. I appreciate everything You do.

**Author's Note:**

> who knew that 5,000 words was so much, That's a wild concept to me. Anyways. thank you so much for reading and I'll see you with the next chapter soon (hopefully)


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